# 3 - New Release

Another neglected opera by a 20th century composer… but this Braunfels work, which didn’t receive its premiere until 2001 (where this recording was made), is much more soothing than K.A.Hartmann’s “Simplicissimus” (“Best of / No.5”), much more lush, and seductive. In fact, this is more Korngold / Die Tote Stadt than Stravinsky Historie du Soldat. I’ve made brief comments about this disc when it came out (here) and I should hope to write in greater detail about it when I get around to Braunfelsagain—meanwhile don’t miss out on this if even this cursory description intrigues you the least bit. [Braunfels will be a 2011 release for North America, I just realized.]

When I spoke with Marc Minkowski almost two years ago in Salzburg, he had been exhausted from a lot of performing and recording; among them the Haydn Symphonies. At the time I had been impressed by his new recording of the Mass in B-Minor; now that I've heard his Haydn, I find that an even more outstanding achievement. So much wit, sparkle, and genuine surprise (!) in these works that even those of us who already Jochum and Davis and one or two "HIP" versions will want to pick these up for sheer delight. Also one of Charles' choices.

# 3 – Reissue

No sooner switcheth an artist record labels, out cometh a compilation of his previous best work at an unbeatable price on the old label. Not so much, one assumes, to make a sweet parting present but to cash in on their fame and maybe, just maybe, undercut the sales of the artist on the new label. There is no shame in benefitting off this, though, especially when it comes to something like Harmonia Mundi’s compilation of Alexandre Tharaud’s baroque music CDs aptly titled “baroque”. It brings together three of the finest discs of baroque keyboard music on the piano: his Rameau, his Couperin (A Few of My Favorite Things, 2007), and his Bach (Best of 2005). The Bach would unquestionably be on my “Best of the Decade” list, except I’ve not followed recordings intensely over all of the last ten years, so I won’t make one. In short: if you read this, I’d be surprised if you don’t already have at least the Bach, but in any case you will simply need all three and this is the more economic way of getting them if you only have one so far; in that case leaving you with an extra one (or two) to make a surely much appreciated gift.